Its territory was part of ancient Kalinga of Mahabharat fame. Ashok the Mauryan King of Magadh, invaded Kalinga in 261 BC and this event made history as the Great Kalinga war. Then the people of Kalinga offered a relentless and fearless resistance, but lost in the past. As the desperate battle, and was bitterly fought, and how terrible were the results are known from Ashok's own descriptions. This is what he wrote about the Kalinga war in his Rock Ordinance XIII. The country of Kalinga was conquered when King priyadarshan, beloved of the gods had been anointed eight years. One hundred and fifty thousand were there from captured, killed one hundred thousand were there, and often as many died.
But what was the outcome? The conquered Kalinga conquered her conqueror. This was the last war fought by him after he became the great champion of Buddhism and upheld the values of peace and nonviolence.The ancient state rose to prominence as a kingdom under Kharavela, a great conqueror and patron of Jainism, in the second half of the Ist century BC Other great rulers belonged to the Keshari dynasty and the Eastern Ganga dynasty who were also great builders.
At the same time the vast kingdom lasted from Ganga to Godavari. The flourishing maritime trade with South East Asia ie countries Java Bornio had brought in a golden age of wealth and opulence.The Kalinga School of architecture flourished from 7 to 13 century The most important monuments of this period can be seen in and around Bhubaneswar and Puri. Mukteswar The Temple is the best piece of architecture of Kalinga. The Lingaraj Temple of Bhubaneswar, the Jagannath Temple of Puri above all the world-renowned world heritage Sun Temple at Konark is the epitome of temple architecture and sculpture. The construction of the Konark Temple utilized 12 years of state revenue, which can be compared with the mighty Mongol empire, which also used its resources in 12 years to build world-famous Taj Mahal.
It also showed its military strength and prowess during Buxi Jagabandhu, period Warrior Khurda Paik. The glories of Odisha ended in later half of the 16th century. Two centuries later, the British administered the final blows by dividing the original territory for various administrative units.In 1936, finally an independent state Odisha was constituted as a separate province by carving some parts of the provinces of Bihar, Odisha and Madras. As centuries passed, Odisha continued to invite heros, Scholars and prophets alike. Famous kings like Samudra Gupta and Harsha Siladitya came to Odisha in political missions while scholars like Prajna and Hieuen-Tsang came to learn in the learning centers. Hieuen-Tsang, the famous Chinese pilgrim who visited 7th century Odisha was surprised to see the University of imparting knowledge to students Puspagiri many now lying buried under Buddhist complex at Ratnagiri-Udayagiri-Lalitgiri.
Various prophets visited Odisha, a significant difference between these visits is the visit of Adi Shankaracharya in the ninth century to Puri to make it a center of its mission and an imposing fortress of their ideology and spiritual message. He established four monasteries in four corners of the Indian peninsula outside of which "The Gobardhan Pitha" of Puri was one of the most significant. Another Great St. Ramanujacharya, the proponent of visista Dwaita philosophy also visited Puri and established the Emar Matha. In the same century Jayadev composed his world famous lilting treatise "Gita Govinda". Later in the 16th century Sri Chaitanya, the exponent of the Bhakti Cult came to Odisha and made Puri his abode in the last 18 years of his life. His contemporary Pancha Sakha ie Sri Jagannath Das, Sri Acyutananda Das, Sri Balaram Das, Ananta & Yasobanta were spiritual stalwarts and literary luminaries of the time.
Kabi Samrat Upendra Bhanja, Kabi Surya Baladev Ratha, Radhanath Ray, Fakir Mohan Senapati, Pandit Gopabandhu Dash, Pandit Nilakantha Das, Mishra Godabaris, Kalandia Charan Panigrahi, Sachidananda Routray and many others have contributed substantially to the language and literature of Odisha.Utkal Gaurav Madhusudan Das was the architect of Modern Odisha and subsequently Sri Nabakrushna Chowdhury, Dr. Harekrishna Mahatab, Bijayananda Sri Patnaik and others engineered their best efforts for catapulting Odisha to himalayan heights of fame and glory.
In fact, Odisha has become a multi dimensional, multi colored, state splendoured, many modern vibrant and brash all set on their journey in the present millennium to make your presence and voice felt in the nooks and crannies of the world by Universal Cult of brotherhood, its unique cultural heritage, lush forests and wild life, sprawling Chilika Lake, abundant coastline, wide range of tribes and colorful canvass of art and culture.Odisha has been resurgent again rejuvenating and resuscitating its ancient glory, glamor and grandeur.